Bucket Filling and Compliments take more planning and time investment, but both were really good activities that helped me to initiate a focus on increasing student behaviours that demonstrated kindness and compassion towards one another. These activities did not extend through the whole year, but much of the language and ideas did.
I decided to start with a story, as I believed that would engage them and be a good way to introduce the ideas I wanted to familiarize them with. So, I read the class a book, “Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids” (McCloud, 2007), and we started on our path to “Bucket Filling”.
After the story, we talked extensively about what ‘bucket filling’ and what ‘bucket dipping’ behaviours were, how we could fill someone’s (and our own) bucket, and shared personal experiences of both. Bucket filling behaviours are those that make others (and ourselves) feel good/happy; bucket dipping behaviours are those that make others (and ourselves) feel bad/sad. The students had a lot to say about both experiences. They all had their buckets filled and dipped from, and had very distinct feelings about it. Then I showed the class some cards I had made: “You Filled My Bucket” and “Compliments” and a bucket I had decorated to look like the one in the book. I explained to them that we would be using these cards daily and gave examples of how to use them, and how not to. The aim was to make a positive statement about the person they were writing the card for, and that sometimes we would have to think deeply, but we can find something positive about everyone. I also encouraged them to try to make statements about the qualities of the person, not what they were wearing that day. These cards would be placed on a bookshelf in the class and could be taken and written on anytime students had some free time.
One exception was for the “Compliments”; I wrote the names of each student in the class on these, handing them out randomly after lunch during silent reading, and the students would fill out the compliment card for the student whose name I had written on it. The compliment cards were also available for use during any free time students had, but I was structuring this part of it to ensure that each child got at least 5 compliments by the end of the week. At the end of the week (Fridays), I would go through the bucket and read out what was written on the cards and the children would then take them home. The students really got on board with this and were very excited for Fridays when I would read them aloud and they could take them home.
The students began using the language “so-and-so filled my bucket”, and “I am sad because my bucket got dipped”, and we continued discussing the feelings surrounding those experiences. We did a variety of bucket-filling activities: I dedicated one of the bulletin boards in the class to bucket-filling (it was entitled “We are Bucket Fillers”, had a big bucket drawn onto it, and was covered with colouring pages the students had coloured of their own bucket, with a caption underneath stating what they felt was a good bucket filling action and they signed their names beside it); they worked on a cut and paste, cutting and pasting behaviours into “Bucket Filling” and “Bucket Dipping” columns; they wrote in their journals about a time they filled someone’s bucket and how it made them feel, about a time their bucket had been filled by someone, about a time their bucket had been dipped, and about a time they dipped into someone’s bucket and how it made both the other person and them feel. This evolved into discussions about friendship, how to be a good friend, what makes a good friend, and about the importance of being the kind of friend you would like to have. Students completed activities and role plays that reinforced what they were learning about how our words, actions, and behaviours affect how others feel, and how what we do impacts how we feel about ourselves as well.
These activities set a tone for our classroom community; one that brought attention to looking for the best in everyone, the importance of self-awareness and awareness of others, and an understanding about how we all can impact the feelings of others (both positively and negatively), and that this also impacts how we feel about ourselves. These activities also introduced specific language (bucket filling, bucket dipping), tapped into the students reflections of their own bucket filling/dipping experiences, and brought an understanding to the statement I used frequently, “Treat others as you wish to be treated”.
Bucket Filling and Compliments could be especially powerful at the beginning of the year to set the tone for the learning community the teacher would like to create with the class. These activities can be adapted to use with other grades as the teacher sees fit. For example, for intermediate grades, “Bucket Filling” could be called “Pay it Forward” or “Random Acts of Kindness”, and the activities that follow could be based on those themes. It is all about empathy and creating awareness of how our behaviours and choices impact others as well as ourselves- a worthwhile theme that is easily integrated into the classroom environment and learning.
The Bucket Filling and Compliments gradually petered out a few months in, as I believed they had run their course and if I had persisted with them, they would have become less genuine. The bulletin board remained up, and the language was still used, but the daily writing of bucket filling and compliment cards was not happening, and in a sense may not have needed to anymore. “Kind Words” became the platform for our compliments.
Resources/Materials I Used
I decided to start with a story, as I believed that would engage them and be a good way to introduce the ideas I wanted to familiarize them with. So, I read the class a book, “Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids” (McCloud, 2007), and we started on our path to “Bucket Filling”.
After the story, we talked extensively about what ‘bucket filling’ and what ‘bucket dipping’ behaviours were, how we could fill someone’s (and our own) bucket, and shared personal experiences of both. Bucket filling behaviours are those that make others (and ourselves) feel good/happy; bucket dipping behaviours are those that make others (and ourselves) feel bad/sad. The students had a lot to say about both experiences. They all had their buckets filled and dipped from, and had very distinct feelings about it. Then I showed the class some cards I had made: “You Filled My Bucket” and “Compliments” and a bucket I had decorated to look like the one in the book. I explained to them that we would be using these cards daily and gave examples of how to use them, and how not to. The aim was to make a positive statement about the person they were writing the card for, and that sometimes we would have to think deeply, but we can find something positive about everyone. I also encouraged them to try to make statements about the qualities of the person, not what they were wearing that day. These cards would be placed on a bookshelf in the class and could be taken and written on anytime students had some free time.
One exception was for the “Compliments”; I wrote the names of each student in the class on these, handing them out randomly after lunch during silent reading, and the students would fill out the compliment card for the student whose name I had written on it. The compliment cards were also available for use during any free time students had, but I was structuring this part of it to ensure that each child got at least 5 compliments by the end of the week. At the end of the week (Fridays), I would go through the bucket and read out what was written on the cards and the children would then take them home. The students really got on board with this and were very excited for Fridays when I would read them aloud and they could take them home.
The students began using the language “so-and-so filled my bucket”, and “I am sad because my bucket got dipped”, and we continued discussing the feelings surrounding those experiences. We did a variety of bucket-filling activities: I dedicated one of the bulletin boards in the class to bucket-filling (it was entitled “We are Bucket Fillers”, had a big bucket drawn onto it, and was covered with colouring pages the students had coloured of their own bucket, with a caption underneath stating what they felt was a good bucket filling action and they signed their names beside it); they worked on a cut and paste, cutting and pasting behaviours into “Bucket Filling” and “Bucket Dipping” columns; they wrote in their journals about a time they filled someone’s bucket and how it made them feel, about a time their bucket had been filled by someone, about a time their bucket had been dipped, and about a time they dipped into someone’s bucket and how it made both the other person and them feel. This evolved into discussions about friendship, how to be a good friend, what makes a good friend, and about the importance of being the kind of friend you would like to have. Students completed activities and role plays that reinforced what they were learning about how our words, actions, and behaviours affect how others feel, and how what we do impacts how we feel about ourselves as well.
These activities set a tone for our classroom community; one that brought attention to looking for the best in everyone, the importance of self-awareness and awareness of others, and an understanding about how we all can impact the feelings of others (both positively and negatively), and that this also impacts how we feel about ourselves. These activities also introduced specific language (bucket filling, bucket dipping), tapped into the students reflections of their own bucket filling/dipping experiences, and brought an understanding to the statement I used frequently, “Treat others as you wish to be treated”.
Bucket Filling and Compliments could be especially powerful at the beginning of the year to set the tone for the learning community the teacher would like to create with the class. These activities can be adapted to use with other grades as the teacher sees fit. For example, for intermediate grades, “Bucket Filling” could be called “Pay it Forward” or “Random Acts of Kindness”, and the activities that follow could be based on those themes. It is all about empathy and creating awareness of how our behaviours and choices impact others as well as ourselves- a worthwhile theme that is easily integrated into the classroom environment and learning.
The Bucket Filling and Compliments gradually petered out a few months in, as I believed they had run their course and if I had persisted with them, they would have become less genuine. The bulletin board remained up, and the language was still used, but the daily writing of bucket filling and compliment cards was not happening, and in a sense may not have needed to anymore. “Kind Words” became the platform for our compliments.
Resources/Materials I Used
Bucket Filling Materials:
I started by reading the class "Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids", by Carol McCloud. I then created some of my own materials, but also used many from the Bucket Fillers website: Free Resources. I Am a Bucket Filler colouring pages Bucket Filling Journal Questionnaire Page Bucket Filling Journal Lined Page Bucket Filling from A to Z Check-list Bucket Filling from A to Z Check-list with Boxes Bucket Filling Word Search Bucket Filling Crossword Bucket Color by Number Bucket Hidden Message I made my own cards, as these weren't on the site when I made mine, but here are some pre-made cards: Bucketfilling Notes #1 - Color Bucketfilling Notes #1 - Black & White Bucketfilling Notes #2 - Color Bucketfilling Notes #2 - Black & White These are mine: You Filled My Bucket Cards: |
you_filled_my_bucket_cards.pdf | |
File Size: | 59 kb |
File Type: |
Compliment Cards (These were given to me years ago by a teacher, I'm not sure what resource she got them from):
compliments.pdf | |
File Size: | 59 kb |
File Type: |
I also made a bucket (in the image above; purchased at the dollar store) to look like the one in the book, and decorated with a few stickers- this is where we put our compliments and you filled my bucket cards once they were filled out. The picture on the Bucket Filling & Compliments page, is the actual bucket from my class. The bulletin board I put up also had a big bucket like the one from the story stapled to it; it was surrounded by the "I Am a Bucket Filler" colouring pages (free from the free resources on the website) that the students coloured. Underneath their pages, I wrote what they each told me was a bucket filling behaviour, and they signed their names. This remained on the wall all year.
I created a T-Chart, one side read, "Bucket Filling", the other, "Bucket Dipping". To go along with this, I created cards with behaviours on them for the kids to cut out and paste in the appropriate column.
T-Chart, Bucket Filling/Dipping Cards:
I created a T-Chart, one side read, "Bucket Filling", the other, "Bucket Dipping". To go along with this, I created cards with behaviours on them for the kids to cut out and paste in the appropriate column.
T-Chart, Bucket Filling/Dipping Cards:
t-chart.pdf | |
File Size: | 20 kb |
File Type: |
McCloud, Carol, and David Messing. Have You Filled a Bucket Today?: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids. Northville, MI: Ferne, 2007.